It was Christmas Day, a few months after the St. Petersburg mayor cleared Fire Rescue Chief James Large of hostile workplace allegations, when the chief’s daughter posted a photo to social media.
It showed her father grinning and holding a coffee mug that read: “Go ahead, call HR.” Mug & Cup
A screen grab of the photo was emailed that day to Mayor Ken Welch, his chief of staff and all City Council members. On Jan. 18 — 23 days after the photo was taken, posted and distributed — the city announced that Large would retire in March after 50 years with the department.
Not amused by the coffee mug was Michelle Methot, who publicly accused Large of fostering a hostile workplace, only to have her complaint dismissed by city officials last year. She said she took the photo personally.
“I’m the only person who ended up going to (Human Resources),” she told the Tampa Bay Times. “Who else is it directed at?”
During his annual address Tuesday, Welch had only good things to say about Large and his “long list of accomplishments.”
“Thank you, Chief Large, for your lifetime of service and commitment to public safety,” Welch told the crowd. “We wish you and your family all the best in your future endeavors.”
Minutes after Welch’s remarks, the mayor was asked by the Times about the coffee mug photo and if it hastened Large’s retirement announcement.
Welch replied: “Well, I’ll tell you. I was not happy with it.”
While Welch said the city’s Human Resources Department told him the photo was not in violation of any rules, the mayor did say that it was in “poor judgment” and that he told Large that, too.
“Certainly, you don’t want that on social media,” Welch said. “And it doesn’t send the right message.”
Asked if he had asked Large to retire, Welch said he and Large had discussions about Large’s retirement “going back several months.” Welch said he was “comfortable” with Large retiring March 1.
Conditions of Large’s departure, however, suggest the fire chief was pushed out.
City spokesperson Erica Riggins said Large is eligible for a base severance package of $52,000, as well as a payout of $21,670 in unused sick leave, on top of the monthly pension he has been collecting for nearly 20 years while continuing to work for the fire department. According to city policy, administrative management employees are eligible for severance if they either resign or retire at the mayor’s request, or if their position was eliminated or changed. Employees terminated for misconduct are ineligible for severance pay.
When asked by the Times about the photo, Large declined to comment. It was publicly posted using a temporary feature on Instagram by Large’s daughter, a doctoral student, with the caption, “if you know, you frickin know” and a laughing emoji.
“Once again, a non-issue (is) being made into a self-serving issue by certain parties,” said Large’s attorney, Jay Hebert. “We stand by Chief Large and his 50 years of exemplary service to this great city and the members of the St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Department.”
But the photo made it difficult for City Hall to move on from nagging questions about Large’s conduct. Large was placed on administrative leave by the mayor last year after he was accused of fostering a workplace environment hostile to women and minorities. Until then, Large had no disciplinary records in his file.
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The Times subsequently interviewed seven firefighters who described inappropriate interactions and comments from Large and others in the department, including racist and sexist jokes. Each employee said the encounters created a hostile workplace.
Methot, the lone firefighter who allowed her name to be used for the story, told the Times that Large showed photos of her before she was hired, disciplined her more harshly than her male supervisor who missed the same exam after coming back from paternity leave and falsely accused her of abusing sick leave after a 2018 miscarriage. In August, she filed a complaint with Human Resources. That department determined it to be unfounded.
Large, however, was counseled in writing by the mayor in an October memo about the inappropriateness of a joke the chief made to a witness in Methot’s case: “What does one saggy tit say to another? We need support or they will think we are nuts.”
Methot said when she called to complain about the social media post on Dec. 29, Human Resources told her it was “clear targeting” and that department officials were “working through it.” Later, she said she was told by Human Resources that there was no way to prove Large had malicious intent.
Methot posted a screenshot of the photo on her Facebook page and wrote that Large had “mocked” her. City Council chairperson Deborah Figgs-Sanders said when she saw Methot’s post, “It kind of raised a level of sensitivity for me. At someone else’s expense, I thought it was in poor taste.”
The email of the mug photo was sent to the mayor and City Council from the same email address that in July circulated negative comments made about Large as part of an anonymous employee survey to City Council members. The subject of the Dec. 25 email read “Merry Christmas from Fire Chief Large.” The email text said: “Our firefighters deserve better.”
In August, council members proposed hiring a consultant to do a management and culture evaluation of the fire department. The City Council voted 5-0 on Thursday to negotiate with an outside firm, which has proposed doing the analysis for $103,000.
Two council members, Richie Floyd and Brandi Gabbard, had called for new leadership at the fire department when the hostile workplace allegations surfaced. Gabbard said she believed the employees’ accusations because of her own experiences with Large. Floyd and Gabbard later faced calls to resign from some in the public because the city charter bars council members from “directly or indirectly” calling for the appointment or removal of a city employee.
“The photo speaks for itself,” Gabbard wrote in a text. “I continue to be faithfully committed to the men and women of St. Pete Fire and Rescue and support them through this time of opportunity for the department.” Floyd declined to comment.
Copley Gerdes, the council vice chairperson, said he brought up the photo of Large in an already scheduled one-on-one conversation with Welch.
“I considered it poor judgment and left it there. It’s not my intention to meddle,” Gerdes said. He added that when Welch called to let him know of Large’s retirement, the photo was not part of that conversation.
Council member Gina Driscoll said she didn’t see the photo as a city issue since it was not posted by a city employee and it was not done on city time. She said it seemed like an inside family joke that a family member posted.
“Whether or not that was good judgment on their part, I’ll let them decide,” Driscoll said, adding that she was glad Methot spoke up and filed a complaint if she felt it was targeting her.
Esther Matthews, president of the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP, called for Large’s termination in August. She said Tuesday night that she had seen the photo of Large with the mug and spoke to Welch about it. She said she believed the matter was “handled internally.”
“I’m excited to hear he is retiring,” Matthews said. “We should not have allowed voluntary retirement.”
After Welch cleared Large of wrongdoing, Matthews said the NAACP branch would work with the city’s chief equity officer to develop a “fire department action plan” to address a disparity in promotions, which Welch also mentioned in a video to employees in which he announced he was clearing Large of misconduct. Matthews said Tuesday night that none of that work has been done.
Riggins, the city spokesperson, said Large was able to first draw his pension in 2004 after becoming eligible for the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, which allows employees to receive retirement benefits while continuing to work. Per the state’s rules, Large retired before he was rehired as fire chief in 2006.
Riggins said Large has been receiving a monthly pension of $7,542 since Feb. 28, 2004. That’s on top of Large’s current annual salary of $225,359, which increased from the $210,375 he was making last August. Riggins said Large will not receive a new pension.
Colleen Wright is a reporter covering St. Petersburg. She can be reached at cwright@tampabay.com.
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